If you are an Oprah fan, you already know that she will be launching a new network on New Year’s Day 2011. Oprah has recruited a “dream team” of go-to experts:

Dr. Phil, Suze Orman and Dr. Oz — will be answering questions about health, wealth and mental well-being as part of the original series, “Ask Oprah’s All Stars,” premiering Sunday, January 2.

The recently launched webpage HuffPost Health is asking readers to submit questions for possible use on the show’s launch. What would you ask?

No questions have been posted as of this time, but one that comes immediately to mind for Dr. Oz is “Why does the public, in general, seem to mistrust science?”

There have been a number of thoughtful articles over at Tomorrow’s Table about Dr. Oz; I recommend that you read them for a perspective if you are planning to “Jump Start Your Health, Wealth and Happiness” according to the show’s slogan.

Do you think that such pop “superstars” are good for promoting public understanding of science and medicine?

I won’t do any more because too many links will send me to moderation purgatory.

Mehmet Oz was given his start on Oprah’s show. His wife is a reiki master, and he believes in reiki. In fact, he promotes reiki; he’s also big in the Bravewell Collaborative, a group backed by the wife of a wealthy financier dedicated to promoting “integrative” medicine; i.e., mixing pseudoscience-based medicine with science-based medicine.

My point was to point out that “Oprah’s all stars” are the last people likely to have a clue as to why the public mistrusts science because they owe their very fame to the public’s mistrust and misunderstanding of science, which Oprah herself feeds through her promotion of pseudoscience. One might as well ask Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity why the public distrusts the government.

My point was to point out that “Oprah’s all stars” are the last people likely to have a clue as to why the public mistrusts science because they owe their very fame to the public’s mistrust and misunderstanding of science, which Oprah herself feeds through her promotion of pseudoscience. One might as well ask Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity why the public distrusts the government.

My mother said it best. Dr. Oz is a doom and gloom prophet who can make a carrot look like a weapon of death.